Athletic shoe



United States Patent fiice 2,904,903 Patented Sept. 22, 1959 ATHLETIC SHOE Stanley Kardon, Cynwyd, Pa. Application May 12, 1959, Serial No. 812,635 8 Claims. (Cl. 36-2.5)

My invention relates to a shoe having cleats or spikes thereon with a built-in resilient heel and a sole having a smooth contour.

In shoes of the type to which the invention relates, such as a football shoe which must have cleats on the bottom sole, it is necessary that the outer sole of the shoe be smooth or continuous, since the presence of a heel or discontinuity on the bottom of the shoe would be dangerous to both the wearer and his opponents during the process of an athletic event. Because of this, the typical football or baseball shoe does not have a heel.

This presents a substantial disadvantage, since the heel of a shoe is necessary for well balanced posture. That is to say, the heel shifts the body forward and distributes the Wearers weight across the ball of the foot. If a heel is not provided, the weight is shifted rearwardly and toward the heel so that continuous balanced posture becomes strenuous to the wearer of the shoe and imposes substantial strain on the leg muscles.

The desirability of a heel in athletic shoes has been recognized heretofore, but because of the necessity of a cleat, it has been impractical to provide a heel or wedge. Thus, if a solid wedge of well-known construction were used, the wedge would have to be of rigid and heavy material, since it must support a cleat bolt or stud or similar attaching device whereby the cleat can be fastened to the sole of the shoe. The use of the normal heel is not possible because of the heretofore mentioned dangers of discontinuity on the bottom of the sole of the shoe.

The principle of my novel invention is to utilize a wedge of relatively flexible material such as a sponge rubber which is interposed between the in-sole or midsole and the out-sole at the rear of the shoe. In order to prevent the required cleat bolt from fixing the distance from the in-sole to the out-sole and thus losing the advantageous shock absorbing characteristic of the flexible wedge, I then position a still sheet between the bottom of the wedge and the top of the out-sole with this thin sheet receiving the head of a cleat bolt. Thus, the cleat, or spike, or similar ground engaging means, is adequately fastened to the out-sole of the shoe, while the wedge serves to build up the heel to shift a wearers weight forward, and the resilient wedge retains its resilient characteristics.

Accordingly, a primary object of my invention is to provide a novel athletic shoe in which the weight of the wearer is shifted forward by means of a built-up heel.

Another object of my invention is to provide a novel athletic shoe having ground engaging means thereon which has a built-up heel of a resilient nature, although the bottom of the shoe is of a smooth contour.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a wedge-type heel for a shoe having cleats or spikes thereon wherein the cleat bolts are fastened below the resilient wedge in the heel area and above the inner surface of the out-sole.

These and other objects of my invention will become apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows an exploded perspective view of a preferred embodiment of my novel invention.

Figure 2 shows a side cross-sectional view of the assembled shoe of Figure 1.

Referring now to the figures, I have chosen to show a football shoe for illustrative purposes, although it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that my invention is applicable to any type of shoe, such as a track shoe, baseball shoe, or any other similar shoe having a ground engaging means.

Thus, in the figures, the shoe 10 has an in-sole 12, which is normally of leather, connected thereto in any desired manner. As heretofore stated, the previous and standard practice is to directly fasten the out-sole 14 to the in-sole by cementing, gluing, or sewing, or some similar process. This, however, necessarily eliminates any type of built-up heel so that the wearers weight is shifted toward the heel with the resultant aforementioned disadvantages.

In accordance with the present invention, I fasten a wedge 16 of resilient material, such as a light, sponge rubber to the in-sole 12. The lower portion of the wedge may have a cut-away section 18, as illustrated in Figure 1, for receiving a leather or rubber plate 20 which, as will be seen hereinafter, replaces the function of the in-sole 12 in receiving a cleat bolt. The plate 20 has a pair of apertures 22 and 24 therein which receive the shanks of cleat bolts 26 and 28 respectively with the heads of cleat bolts 26 and 28 engaging the surface of the plate 20. Positioned immediately below leather plate 20 is a thin steel plate 30 having apertures, such as aperture 32, which cooperate with apertures 22 and 24 respectively, so that the bolts 26 and 28 may pass through plate 30.

It will be noted that plates 20 and 30 fit within the notch 18. However, this is only one manner in which wedge 16 may be formed, and it will be obvious that the notch may be eliminated with the plates 20 and 30 being forced into the surface of wedge 16.

The out-sole is provided with a pair of apertures 34 and 36 which are aligned with the apertures of plate 24} and 30 so that bolts 26 and 28 may pass through and extend beyond the out-sole 14. Further apertures 38, 40, 42, 44 and 46 in the front of out-sole 14 cooperate with similar apertures in the in-sole 12 (not shown), whereby cleat bolts may be fastened to the front of the shoe in the normal manner.

The out-sole 14, as best seen 'in Figure 2, is then secured to the front portion of in-sole 12 and the lower part of wedge 16 and plate 30. This securing may be achieved by cementing or stitching, or any other desired manner well known in the field.

In order to rigidly secure the cleat bolts, such as cleat bolts 26 and 28, in position, spring-type washers, such as washers 48 and 50, are forced onto the shanks of bolts 26 and 28, as illustrated in Figure 2 for washer 50 whereby the cleat bolts are rigidly retained in a fixed position. The protruding cleat bolts threadably receive female cleats 52 and 54 respectively which have the usual type of hexagonal nut at the top thereof, while the front cleats, such as cleats 56, 5S and 60, are secured to their respective cleat bolts 62, 64 and 66 which pas-s through apertures 38, 40 and 42 of the out-sole 14- of Figure 1.

From the foregoing structure, it will be apparent that I obtain an elevated heel so that the weight of the wearer of the shoe is shifted toward the ball of the foot. Furthermore, in using a resilient and light weight wedge 16, there is a shock absorbing effect which is highly desirable in athletic shoes. Finally, even though I have used a light weight wedge, I am able to secure cleat bolts to the shoe by utilizing a plate member 20 which supplants the action heretofore required 'by the in-sole 12 in receiving the head of the cleat bolts. Thus, it is not necessary in view of my .novel invention, to secure 'the oleat 'bo'lt between the in-sole "and the out-sole, as is the case for the standard itype c'leat 'bolt structure shown for cleats 56, '53 and 6t) in Figure '2. Indeed, if this structure were used for the clea't bolts adjacent flexib'le wedge 1'6, the distance between the in-sole and the out-sole at the heel would be fixed by the length of the bolt, and the flexible action would be defeated.

Although I have described preferred embodiments of my novel invention, many 'variations and modifications will now be obvious to those skilled in the art, and I prefer therefore to 'be limited not by the specific disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims.

"I claim:

1. In an athletic shoe; an in-sole, an out-sole, a bolt means, a wedge, and a plate; said wedge being interposed between said in-sole .and said out-sole, said plate being interposed between said wedge and said out-sole; said bolt means having a head and a protruding portion; said ;head being held by said plate means; said protruding portion of said bolt passing through said plate and said out-sole and being secured independently of said wedge; the bottom of said out-sole having a smooth contour.

'2. In an athletic shoe; an in-sole, an out-sole, a bolt means, a wedge, and a plate; said wedge being interposed between said in-so'le and said out-sole, said plate being interposed between said wedge and said out-sole; said bolt means having a head and a fastening portion; said 'head'being held by said plate means; said fastening portion communicating with areas external to said out sole through aligned .apertures in said plate and said out-sole.

3. In an athletic shoe; an in-sole, an out-sole, a bolt means, a wedge, and a plate; said wedge being interposed between said in-sole and said out-sole, said plate being interposed between said wedge and said out-sole; said bolt means having ahead and a fastening portion; said head being held by said plate means; said fastening portion communicating with areas external to said out-sole through aligned apertures in said plate and said out-sole; said bolt being secured independently of said wedge; the bottom of said out-sole having a smooth contour.

4. In an athletic shoe; an in-sole, an out-sole, a bolt means, a Wedge, and a plate; said wedge being interposed between said in-sole and said out-sole, said plate being interposed between said wedge and said out-sole; said bolt means having a head and a protruding portion; said head being held by said plate means; said protruding portion of said bolt passing through said plate and said out-sole and being secured independently of said wedge; the bottom of said out-sole having a smooth contour; said wedge being 'of =resilient material.

5. In an athletic .shoe; an in-sole, an out-sole, a bolt means, a wedge, and a plate; said wedge being interposed between ,-said insole .and said out-sole, said plate being interposed between said wedge and said out-sole; said bolt means having a head and a fastening portion; said head being held :by said :plate means; said fastening portion communicating with areas external to said out-sole through aligned apertures in said plate and said out-sole; said bolt being secured independently of said wedge; the bottom of said out-sole having a smooth contour; said wedge being ofia resilient material.

6. A built-in heel for a shoe; said shoe having a smooth contour at the bottom of its out-sole, said shoe having means for receiving ground engaging means at the bottom of its out-sole; said built-in heel comprising a wedge positioned internally of said out-sole; plate means interposed between said Wedge and said out-sole and immediately adjacent said out-sole; said plate means and said out-sole receiving and securing said ground en..

gaging means.

7. A built-in heel for a shoe; said shoe having a smooth contour at the bottom of its out-sole, said shoe having means for receiving ground engaging means at the bottom of its out-sole; said built-in heel comprising a wedge positioned internally of said out-sole; plate means interposed between said wedge and said out-sole and immediately adjacent said out-sole; said plate means and said out-sole receiving and securing said ground engaging means independently ofsaid wedge.

'8. A built-in heel for a shoe; said shoe having a smooth contour at the bottom of its out-sole, said shoe having means for receiving ground engaging means at the bottom of its out-sole; said built-in heell comprising a wedge positioned internally of said out-sole; plate means interposed between said wedge and said out-sole and immediately adjacent said out-sole; said plate means and said out-sole receiving and securing said ground engaging means independently of said wedge; said wedge being resilient material.

No references cited. 

